Danketsu
by Spottedeyes
Summary: *Sequel to 'Mokushiroku'* Myra lives with her younger sister in Striaton City. Myra struggles to keep Celia in trainer school and pay rent. Her life doesn't get much better when she finds out that Celia ditched school and finds that their house has been broken into... This is just the beginning. (Warning, first chapter has some domestic violence, but it stops after that)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: 

A man around sixty years old sat beside his wife. He was reading the newspaper, she was filling out paperwork, her Umbreon that she'd had since her childhood sleeping at her feet. His wife was very important in the Unovian community. He wasn't sure what exactly she did anymore, as she changed jobs in the Unovian government every other week. He found it ridiculous.

It was raining outside, droplets of rain blurring the windows in their large home. Thunder called out in the distance. When a bolt of lightning struck, Umbreon stirred, his eyes opening before quickly closing again.

His wife would also look up at any noise. She was nearly ready to retire and yet she still acted like she was at war.

He shrugged it off. After about forty years of marriage, he was used to this sort of thing. She nearly jumped out of her seat when the doorbell rang. She jumped and glared in the direction of the front door. Umbreon sat up as quickly as an old, arthritic Umbreon could, his lips peeling back into a snarl.

He sighed, "I'll get it."

"Alright." She muttered, her eyes straying back to the paperwork.

Umbreon continued glaring in the door's direction for a few more seconds before relaxing again, his head resting on her foot. He stiffly walked towards the door, nearly jumping when another clap of thunder sounded in the distance. The man opened the door with a long, slow creaking noise. On his porch were two little girls.

One looked to be around six or seven, and the other four or five. In one hand, the older girl had the younger's hand tightly clutched in her own. The other had a letter in a page protector.

"Are you two lost?" He asked, poking his head out the door and looking for a car or Pokémon that could've dropped them off.

Neither spoke. The older girl handed him the page protector.

"Urm, here, come in." He stuttered.

The girls quickly came in, their dripping clothes splashing water all over the stone floor.

"What's going on over there?" She asked grumpily.

"Um, these two kids just showed up."

"What? Kids? Clyde, we had our kid. I'm done with 'em."

Clyde sighed, "just hang on Ebony, please. These poor girls are freezing and wet and came with a letter. Just give me a moment."

"Fine, they better not be staying the night though."

He rolled his eyes and started reading over the letter.

XXX

_Father, _

_I know you and Mom are still angry with me for leaving with Serena. As you know, we left to protect Yveltal and Xerneas from people with selfish ambition like Lysandre. _

_Well, we've been married for eight years now and we had two daughters. Things are getting dangerous around here and Serena and I have decided that having them move around all the time isn't good for them. We also don't want them to get sucked into this world. It's stressful and dangerous. Now, I know Mom especially won't like this, but I have sent them to live with you. _

_The oldest is Myranda (however she prefers to be called 'Myra' instead) and she's six. Her birthday is September 28th. The youngest is Celia. She's four. Her birthday is March 14th. Again, I apologize for giving them to you after not telling you that we even had children. Please understand that this is for Myra's and Celia's best interests. _

_-Calem_

XXX

Clyde's heart stopped. He looked back at the two girls. Myra had a rather hostile, almost feral look to her, while Celia just looked sad and scared.

"Are they gone yet?" Ebony asked.

"Eb, they're not leaving."

"What? Why not? We don't have any other kids besides Calem! Why are they still here?" She snapped.

"Ebony-"

"Why are they still here?"

"I'm not sending two little girls into a thunderstorm!" He yelled.

Ebony fell quiet. Clyde looked at the two girls and sighed.

"Here, come upstairs with me. I'll get you two dry." He whispered, leading them down the hall and up the spiral staircase.

Clyde gritted his teeth when he realized that he had no clothes for them. Instead he grabbed two large towels and wrapped each girl in a towel. He didn't feel comfortable taking their clothes off to put in the dryer. Clyde waited for a response, but they stayed quiet.

"You two stay put, okay? I'll be back in a minute or two and get a room ready for you." He then went back downstairs to reason with Ebony.

She was waiting for him. And she was quite the sight. Her hands on her hips, her face wearing an irate look, and her Umbreon giving him a look of disapproval. "Who are they and when are they leaving?"

"If I tell you, you're going to be in the worst mood-"

"Tell me."

Clyde sighed and went back into the mud room to get the letter Calem had sent with Myra and Celia. He handed it off to Ebony, who read it once, then twice, then three times, then a fourth… and a fifth… When she looked up, her face was red.

"Who the hell does Calem think he is? First, he insists that he must go on his journey in Kalos of all regions, then he won't come home and claims it's because he has to 'protect' the legendary Pokémon, when really, he's just run away from home with his girlfriend!" She spat. "And then, he doesn't tell us he's fucking married, and then he doesn't tell us that we're grandparents! I'm done with him. I refuse to be saddled with his kids. It's his fault that he had two kids that he can't take care of."

"Ebony, I know-"

"Don't even try with me right now, Clyde."

"Don't throw them out-"

"Oh, I'm not throwing them out. But I swear to Arceus as soon as Myra gets old enough, I'm buying her a place somewhere out in Unova and she's living on her own with Celia."

Knowing there was no way to change Ebony's mind, Clyde forced a nod.

"Alright." He choked.

"Now, where are they? They may be nuisances but they're still my granddaughters."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Hello? Anyone home?

_(Warning, there will be some 'language' used in this chapter. Ps: this is the chapter with that domestic violence I mentioned in the summary)_

Myra awoke to see Celia's half of the room. As usual, the fourteen year-old had gotten up before her older sister.

The bed was neatly made, the old, crunchy gross carpet was clear of any dirty clothing or any of the silly nick-knacks that Celia loved so much. She sleepily looked down at her own half of the room: it looked as though a bomb had gone off. Dirty clothes were in several heaps and piles on the rarely vacuumed carpet, along with crumpled up pieces of paper and open notebooks. Even her nightstand was crowded with empty plastic water bottles and a few used tissues. There might've also been a book somewhere on there too.

The only clean spot on Myra's half of the room was her dresser. The drawers themselves weren't clean, but the top was clear. It was the only spot she bothered to keep clean anymore because that's where she kept her Lapras, Nikko. In his poke ball of course. Anywhere else on her half was gross.

Anytime Celia came over to her half of the room, Myra would say, "enter at your own risk." She really needed to clean up… her eyes drifted to her alarm clock, the digital numbers barely visible through all the debris on the nightstand.

"Shit!" Myra muttered, throwing her covers off herself and practically running out of the room and into the bathroom.

It was eight twenty. She was supposed to drop Celia off at the trainers' school down the street at eight forty five. Myra was sweating in her long sleeved night shirt and pants. Now 'a days, that's all the wore. Long sleeves. It was summer too. Celia always seemed suspicious, but Myra didn't care.

Groaning, she ran back into the room she shared with her sister and grabbed her usual attire: an old, gray beaten-up old hoodie and some tattered jeans and ran back into the bathroom. She locked the door. Myra always changed in the bathroom with the door locked so Celia wouldn't see. The sixteen year-old stared grudgingly at herself in the mirror.

She _hated _her hair. It was a thick, wiry, coarse, frizzy mess. It was near impossible to brush through. She didn't have any time to even attempt to comb through it, so she threw it up in a ponyta-tail. The top of her head looked awful now with her hair pulled up, so she slapped her navy blue and gray baseball cap on, backwards of course. She sighed before changing her shirt. Myra couldn't help but wince when she saw her bruise-stained skin. Her skin was nearly transparent it was so pale, so things like bruises showed and stuck around too long for her liking.

_I'm not afraid. _She told herself, sliding the hoodie over herself. The girl knew her legs would have some too, but not nearly as many as her arms and neck. She took another look at herself in the mirror and ran her fingers over her left eye; it was also bruised. It had been for about a week. Although it had faded a lot, she still had to cover it up with makeup so Celia and anyone else she talked to wouldn't notice. She disdainfully picked up Celia's makeup brush and powder. She was just as pale as Celia, so her blush or whatever you call it matched Myra's skin pretty well. The brunet covered her face in a thin layer of dust before putting everything away again.

With her black-eye covered, she stepped back and looked herself over, making sure that no bruises were showing before unlocking the door and walking back into her and Celia's room to get her Lapras and cell phone. She had slid Nikko's poke ball into her pocket when her phone started buzzing. Inhaling deeply, she reluctantly picked up her phone.

_No matter what he says, he doesn't mean it, Myra. Just read the message. It might not even be him. _Myra thought, coaxing herself to look at the phone.

Like she suspected, it was him. She didn't want to read the message. Myra had already played the 'work called me in early, can you come take Celia to school for me?' card too many times. Her friends wouldn't believe that working at the Dream Yard as a tour guide wouldn't make it so she couldn't take her little sister to school. _But I haven't played the sick card. Maybe it won't even be hurtful. _She couldn't cry again. No one could know about this, especially not Celia.

It buzzed again. _Don't make this worse, Myra. Just answer the text messages… _

The phone gave another two buzzes. Then it started to ring. She looked at the caller ID and saw, 'Matt'. She had to answer it. Myra answered the phone.

"Hello?"

_"Why the fucking hell did you not answer my messages?" _

"Sorry, I'm getting ready right now, I have to get Celia to school-"

_"Tauros-shit! Who are you with? What were you doing last night? Damn it, Myra answer me now!"_

"Matt-"

_"You're lucky I even stay with a whore like you! I'm the best you can do, I'm all you can do, slut!" _

Her voice quavering, Myra spoke again. "I'm not with anyone, Matt. You're honestly the only guy I've been with-"

_"Do you think I'm that fucking stupid? Don't you even try to leave me you ugly bitch!" _

A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Where did this come from? I thought we were fine, Matt! We were fine on Tuesday-"

_"And we would've been fine, but you insist on sleeping with-" _

"I'm not doing that! I'm not trying to leave you! I'm not doing anything wrong!" Myra screamed, hanging up, her face bright red as she cried.

She looked at the clock again. It was eight thirty. There was no way she would be able to stop crying and have her face go back to its typical pale color in ten minutes. Wiping her eyes, she started texting her friend, Carly.

_'Hey can u take Celia to the trainers' school for me today? I'm sick.' _She knew Carly would get back to her quickly. The girl was _always _on her phone. Seconds later, the phone buzzed. _'Aw, sry 'bout that Myra. Ya I'll take her.' _

Myra sat on her bed and just cried.

XXX

**Celia's POV  
**

Celia sat on the wood floor beside her Eevee, V. V gave a content purr as his trainer ran a brush through his fur, his big brown eyes wide with adoration for her.

She giggled, "love you too, buddy."

Celia looked at the kitchen clock and frowned.

"Aw, it's almost time for stupid trainers' school. I hate that place, I've been held back for four years now just because I don't like to battle. What's wrong with that?" She asked, staring sadly at her Eevee.

"Umby, did you like to battle when you were V's age?" Celia said to her grandma's elderly Umbreon.

She left him to protect Celia and Myra, well that's what Grandpa said. Grandma just said he was retiring. The Umbreon just twitched his ear in response.

She sighed, "V, will you ever be grumpy like Umby and Grandma?"

V gave her a sweet look and settled in her lap.

"That's good." She giggled, scratching him behind his ears.

"Hey V, maybe instead of battling like the other students at recess, we can sneak over to the park and ditch for the rest of the day." Celia whispered, grinning.

V cried out in agreement. She heard a knock at the door. She got to her feet, V still in her arms as she went to answer the door. Umby had one eye open, ready to attack if the person at the door tried to hurt Celia. Celia quickly recognized the person as Carly, one of Myra's friends.

"Oh… hey, Carly. What brings you here?"

"Well hello to you too. Myra texted me and asked if I could pick you up. She says she's sick." The blond said.

Celia looked towards the stairs.

"It's probably best if you don't bug Myra. Besides, you'd be late for school." She said cheerfully.

Celia sighed, "yeah, don't want to miss all the fighting."

Carly formed a determined fist, "that's the spirit! Now come on, Squirt!"

Celia and V exchanged annoyed glances, but followed Carly outside.

XXX

"When you get back from recess, we'll start our mock battle tournament, okay?" Ms. Sumner said as she released her students outside.

Her class consisted of a bunch of ten year olds. And Celia.

"Wait, hold up, Celia." She called as the ten year olds ran outside with their Pokémon.

"Hm?" Celia asked when she turned around.

"Um, Celia, not that I don't enjoy having you in my class, but you've been stuck in the same school for nearly five years that most graduate from in less than a year. Is something wrong?"

Celia shrugged, "I just don't like battling. I don't think V here is much of a fighter either. The only reason I'm here is because my older sister's making me."

"Yes, but if you ever want your trainer card you're going to have to graduate."

"I don't really want my trainer card. I don't plan on traveling, I want to go to a normal school and then college so I can have a real job that's more reliable. As a trainer, you never know if there's going to be anyone out there that you can actually beat, or that there's any other trainers out there period. I want a job that will promise me a certain amount of money. That's all."

"Well, Celia sorry but your grandparents are your legal guardians, and they insist that you get your trainer card. Until you turn eighteen you will be obligated to taking this class"

"Then I will wait until I'm eighteen." She said smoothly, turning her back to the teacher and walking outside.

"Eve?" V asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, buddy. I will stick it out for as long as the law requires me to do so, then we'll be gone. I don't know exactly where we're going, but we're leaving. With or without Myra."

XXX

**Myra's POV**

After the redness had left her face, Myra went to her place of work. Since she couldn't have a serious training career thanks to Celia, she worked at the Dream Yard as a tour guide for the tourists. It had gotten rather popular over the years, which was understandable. Striaton was one of the few cities in Unova spared from the bombing when Team Plasma was still in power.

She wished she didn't have to have a job, but since her grandparents refuse to pay the bills for the apartment that they bought for her and Celia to live in, she was forced to get a job. Of course, if her grandparents knew that Myra was desperately looking for work but just couldn't find any, then they'd give her financial support. Sometimes, Myra felt like her grandparents, especially her grandma, didn't want her and Celia around.

She slowed her walk when she felt like someone was watching her. Myra looked around.

_Arceus please don't be Matt… _She thought, looking until she saw a few sketchy looking people hanging around the alley way next to her apartment.

There were four or five of them, all watching her intently. A few of them started laughing when they saw Myra watching them watch her. Her hand gripped Nikko's poke ball and she started walking faster. They just laughed harder.

XXX**  
**

"You did what?!" Myra shouted, her face red and angry.

Celia shrunk back a little.

"Celia, do you realize how _bad _this is going to be if Ms. Sumner doesn't forgive you? If she decides that you aren't trying enough and you're not committed enough, then she's calling grandpa and grandma up and then what? BOTH of us will be in trouble, not just you, but _I _will be punished too! And I didn't do anything! I didn't skip school, I didn't basically declare that I wasn't going to try at all in trainers' school until I'm a legal adult! Arceus, Celia! The only way to make a real living in this world at our age is through being a trainer. College is too damn expensive! And it takes too damn long! You can't make it until you're an adult with just me and my pathetic job in Striaton. This may be a cheaper town to live in, but I can't do this forever. I've been waiting and waiting for you to get that card so we can travel and ditch that damn house!" Myra said, looking defeated and angry.

Celia was on the verge of tears.

"I-I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I just don't like it."

"Celia, just try for me." She said, exasperated.

Celia nodded sadly. "Okay…"

"Vee…" V murmured along with his trainer.

Myra smiled faintly.

"All I'm asking is that you brush your Eevee less, and train with it more."

"I'm still going to brush V a lot, but I'll at least try to get my trainer card…" She said.

"But why? Eevee-"

"V." Celia interrupted.

Myra rolled her eyes and continued. "Fine, 'V' already really likes you. If you'd just level it up a little you could end up with an Espeon or an Umbreon. Maybe even Sylveon."

"Myra…"

"Yeah?"

"You weren't really sick this morning, were you?"

Myra quickly stiffened up. "Let's go home."

"Myra, I'm gonna find out eventually you know, may as well tell me now. Same with the all the long sleeves, today it was nearly a hundred degrees out and you still wore long sleeves. You didn't only wear long sleeves last summer."

"Keep your nose out of my business." Myra glared.

Celia cowered under her older sister's gaze, knowing it was best to keep her mouth shut. The two started walking up the stairs that led into the apartment. Myra stared at the stairs and stopped.

"Hold up, Celia." She said, picking up a rock that was on the stairs.

There was a white piece of paper taped to it.

Myra held it up and read it aloud: "Feel the thunder."

Celia's and Myra's gazes fell on the windows on either side of the door. One was smashed, a small hole in the center.

"What the hell…" Myra's blood had run cold at this point.

_Is Matt inside? _She asked herself fearfully.

"The only way there's a smashed window with the rock on the _outside _is if someone threw it from the inside of our house." Myra murmured as she turned to Celia. "Celia, if there's someone in the house, you run. Don't even look back to see how I'm faring. Just run to the Pokémon center and call the cops. Don't call them on the way to the center, call them in the center. And don't you dare come back to the house until the cops have cleared it. Got it?"

Celia nodded, stepping off the stairs and onto the street. Myra took a deep breath, her hand shaking as she put the keys into the lock.

"Um, Myra, maybe we should just call them now." Celia said frightfully, clutching V tightly in her arms.

"Hell no, even if you do call the cops what are they going to do? They never do anything! It's always the trainers anyway, and I'm a trainer. I have Nikko." Myra insisted, holding the Lapras's poke ball in the air for emphasis.

Celia gulped, visibly shaking. She forced herself to roll her eyes. Myra refused to look afraid in front of Celia. Her heart pounding, Myra opened the door.

The room was dark, which was typical. No one was at the house during the day other than Umbreon, and he like the dark so she never left any lights on. The TV was off, it all looked normal. Except for one thing. Umbreon would always come to the door and greet each of the girls with a nod. He wasn't there.

"Is Umby there?" Celia asked from the street.

Myra turned her head towards Celia. "No."

The fourteen year old looked truly scared now.

"Hello? Carly I swear if you're yanking our chains here it's not funny. Get your ass to the front door now before I send Nikko to beat you." Myra yelled, her voice echoing throughout the house.

A few seconds passed and nothing.

"Umbreon?" She called out, her voice thin and almost desperate.

Celia started walking up the stairs.

"Umby? Umby are you there?" She shouted.

"Eve!" V called, wanting to help his trainer as much as possible.

"If someone's here, come out where I can see you with your hands up where I can see them or else I'm calling the cops!" A few more seconds passed, nothing. "Celia, maybe nothing happened. There's probably a rock on the kitchen table or something. Some kids probably just wanted to freak us out so they broke the window and put the message rock outside." Myra said.

"But what about Umby? Why isn't he coming?" Celia asked fearfully, her pretty blue eyes starting to water.

Myra put a shoulder on Celia's shoulder. "Celia, he's really old. He might've just passed away while we were gone. Or, you know he could be deaf by now. He might just be sleeping upstairs and be too hard of hearing to notice that we're home."

Celia nodded. "I guess."

"Well, I'm going to say false alarm." She said, shrugging it off as she put one foot in the door.

"Wait!"

Myra froze.

"What?" She asked.

"V doesn't want you to go in there." Celia whimpered, holding V up for Myra to see.

He was growling, his ears flat and his little claws extended.

Myra rolled her eyes, "what does he know? The little puff-ball hasn't even won a single battle. You've probably got him all paranoid or something."

Celia glared at Myra. "He's still a Pokémon. V has a great nose and good ears. I'm not going inside." She said stubbornly.

"Celia, the door was _locked _when we got back. The hole in the window isn't big enough for a person to get through, and if someone let a Pokémon loose in the house via poke ball, then Nikko will take it out. You're coming inside. I saw shady people standing around the apartment this morning-"

"When you were 'sick'?" Celia glared. "Unlike you, V and I don't lie. Someone's in there!"

Myra rolled her eyes again and walked into the house, Nikko's poke ball in hand and enlarged, prepped for a fight. She looked around. Nothing.

"Celia, no one's here, see? Nothing is going to happen! Get your ass inside now."

Celia looked at V, then Myra, and reluctantly followed her sister inside.

"There, see? Nothing's wrong here." Myra muttered, closing the door and locking it.

"Alright, now I'm going to make a note to call someone to fix the window tomorrow, and then we can go look for Umbreon and have dinner. I made oran berry soup." She said, walking into the kitchen to find a sticky note.

Myra hadn't even put the pen against the paper before Celia screamed. It was a blood-curtailing shrill scream that would make a person's hearing hard for a few minutes. Myra's head jerked up, she spun around and saw a man standing in front of her, a small revolver in his hand aimed straight at her face.

"Should've listened to the kid, sweet-heart." He smirked.

Myra started feeling behind her for Nikko's poke ball.

"Move and I shoot!" He shouted, pressing the fire-arm against her head. The brunet froze and put her hands up slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements.

"Are you alone?" She asked.

He chuckled. "Nope."

"What are you doing to Celia?"

"Who? The girl? Ah, don't worry she's already bound up. She can't move, so we ain't gonna hurt 'er."

"What about Umbreon?"

He gave another hearty laugh and turned Myra to face the corner of the kitchen. Her brown eyes widened.

"U-Umbreon? You alright? Come on… get up." Myra pleaded, staring horrified at her grandma's Umbreon.

He was slumped unmoving in the corner, a small trickle of crimson flowing onto the floor from his head.

"One little smack to the head and the old timer just dropped dead." He smirked.

"What do you want?" She asked, choking back tears.

_I can grieve later. _She told herself.

"Sorry, I don't even know. We just had orders to get you." "Now, let's get this show on the road," the man said, hitting Myra with the butt of his gun on her head.

She was out.

**I had this chapter pre-written and well I'm not good about keeping written chapters stored up… so you guys get two chapters all in one day! **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Thunder and fire

Myra groaned as she awoke. Her vision was blurred for a moment before she could take it all in. Her wrists and ankles were tied together. Myra also felt something on her forehead. She assumed it was a blindfold that had come off on accident.

"Celia?" She said weakly, her voice hoarse.

"M-Myra! You're awake!" Celia cried.

Myra followed her sister's voice. She was in a cage on the opposite side of the room, her blindfold still covering her eyes.

"You alright?" Myra asked.

Celia nodded.

"Yeah, but I can't find V or Nikko anywhere. I hope they're okay. Did you see what they did to poor Umby? I don't want that to happen to them." She whimpered.

"First off, you can't see so yeah you obviously won't find them. And It won't happen to them," Myra said, grunting as she heaved herself into a sitting position. "I'm getting out of this then I'm helping you. After that we'll look for Nikko and Eevee-"

"V! For the last time, Myra his name's V!" Celia yelled.

Myra rolled her eyes, "Fine, we'll look for Nikko and 'V'. If we can't find them in this room though, then we're escaping without them."

"Myra! We can't just leave them-"

"It's either them or us, Celia." It stayed quiet for a moment as Myra struggled to get loose.

"Damn it, Celia this wouldn't have happened if you'd just gotten your trainer card when you were supposed to. We could be miles, maybe even regions away from these creeps if you just had the damn thing!" She grumbled.

Celia sniffled. Myra assumed that she was crying, but didn't care. This was her fault anyway.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't like it." She cried softly.

"Well do you think that I love telling stupid tourists the same damn information all day every day? Do you think that I love staying in Striaton smelling cigarette smoke all day every day? Do you think I like practically babysitting you? Well I don't! I can barely take care of myself and yet I still manage to keep a damn job and support your sorry ass!" Myra snapped.

Celia didn't respond. Myra continued to mutter stuff to herself as she struggled.

SNAP.

"Hell yeah! I got one." She smirked, moving her hands in their newfound freedom.

Myra then began to fiddle with her ankles, pulling the binds off with ease. With her hands and feet free, she turned her attention to the cage that trapped her. Knowing she couldn't just break the bars with her bare hands, Myra started to examine the area.

"Myra… are you out yet?" Celia whimpered.

"No, but I'm real close I'll tell you that. Celia, do me a favor and try to free your hands while I find a way out of this stupid thing." Myra muttered, her eyes scanning the area around the cage.

"O-okay." She replied, starting to struggle harder against her bindings.

Suddenly, the whole room lurched to the side, Myra's cage falling forward. She yelped in surprise as her face slammed into the cage bars.

"Huh?" She grunted when she realized that the cage hadn't fallen on top of Celia's.

Myra looked back and saw a thick cord that attached the cage to the wall. Her heart sped up when she heard a door open.

"They still kicking?" A voice asked.

"I'm checking now, Ten."

"Well hang on, I have to make this cheap hunk of junk fly straight. Can't have the boss angry at me for hurting a commander."

"You know, technically you're a commander too, stupid." The voice muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, the lowest ranking commander."

"You're still a commander."

"Whatever. Anyway…"

The room quickly jerked back to its original position.

"Oof!" Myra groaned as her body and cage was slammed back against the wall.

"Myra… are they coming?" Celia asked.

"Shut up!" Myra hushed, yanking her blindfold down just enough to make it look like she was still blind and tucking her now untied limbs away from sight.

She could only see the bottom half of their captor. It was obviously a woman. She had thin, lean legs with a tight blue jumpsuit stretched over her skin and wore neon yellow heels.

"Well, Nine, are they still there?"

"Of course they are! All you did was turn the damn plane a little, they're not going to get free just because of that." The woman scoffed.

Myra was tense until the woman entered the other room and shut the door that she'd come from. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did you see them?" Celia asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

Although Celia couldn't see, Myra nodded. "Yeah, but only the bottom half of her. She had these ridiculous neon yellow heels and wore this ugly tight blue jumpsuit."

"That's not normal." Celia said.

"Yeah no duh." She muttered.

"You think that's who left the note? You know, the whole 'feel the thunder' thing?"

"Perhaps… I don't know, I mean obviously it was her and that other guy who left the note and you know, broke into our house and killed Gran's Umbreon, but-"

The door suddenly opened.

"Are you two already awake?" The woman muttered as she reentered the room.

Suppressing a gasp, Myra hastily yanked her blindfold back on and hid her arms and legs behind her.

"I knew I couldn't hit hard, but I really thought that a blow from good old Ten should've kept you out cold for a least a little longer." She frowned, tapping Myra's cage with long painted finger nails.

"I'm tougher than I look." Myra grunted, resisting the urge to punch the lady through the cage.

"Ah, but not tough enough to escape us." She laughed as she strode out.

A shrill noise rang in her ears after the lady started back to the door, it sounded almost like a dime dropping on concrete. Again Myra waited until she heard the door close before taking the blindfold off. She immediately looked in the door's direction, scanning the floor for what had made the noise.

"Did she drop anything?" Celia asked anxiously.

"Can you be quiet for more than five seconds?" Myra hissed.

"I-I'm sorry! I just… hearing you makes me believe that we're going to make it out and get back home."

Guilt flooded Myra's conscious, but she had more important things to worry about.

"A-and I promise that I'll try extra hard and get my trainers' card when we get back." Celia promised.

"Celia, you do know that we might not get home, don't you?"

"No. We will, as long as you don't give up I know we'll get home soon."

"Damn it… I don't see what she dropped." Myra grumbled, tuning her sister out for the time being.

XXX

**Celia's POV**

She wished her sister would be more sympathetic towards her. More importantly, Celia wished she could see so she could look for V. Myra may be willing to leave Nikko to save herself, but she wasn't about to leave V behind with those people.

Her arms throbbed with effort as she continued to struggle against the bindings. Fed up with struggling, she stopped.

_Arceus… if you're listening, please help me… _Celia pleaded.

She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. The sound of shattering glass filled her ears, followed by blaring sirens and shouting from the other room.

"Myra, what's going on?" Celia asked.

"I don't-"

Suddenly the room lurched to the side again. Celia gasped as she was flung against the wall again. She tried her best to prop herself against the back of the cage only to make herself more uncomfortable.

"Myra-"

The room gave another tremor and began to get really hot.

XXX

**Myra's POV**

The room gave another violent shake, forcing more strain on the cord that strapped her cage to the wall. She began sweating.

_Am I really that nervous? Or is it just really hot now? _Myra wondered as she felt the temperature increase.

_Yeah it's just that hot. _She decided as she pushed away from the bars of her cage.

Myra looked behind her to see the walls _melting, _the thick cord that held her cage steady seemed to be faltering as well. A smile formed on her face. She started pushing hard against the now hot bars, ignoring the intense heat in an attempt to break the cord. The room turned even more, causing Myra's cage to hang like a bird cage, the cord making a metallic noise as it continued to weaken.

"Myra, what's happening?" Celia asked, her voice quivering.

"How the hell would I know?" Myra replied.

Celia didn't respond.

"Come on… break already." She muttered, pushing harder on the bars with her hands.

A loud creaking noise filled the air, quickly followed by a snap. Myra's cage fell forward and landed atop Celia's, the impact causing the door to spring open. The cage slid off Celia's and fell to the side of the metal room with a clang. Slightly dazed, Myra climbed out of her cage and stumbled towards Celia's.

"I'm out." She mumbled, fiddling with her sister's lock.

"Y-you did? That's great! Now help me."

"On it." Myra could only touch the metal for a few seconds at a time, as the cage was getting too hot to touch.

"Ow!" Celia cried, having to roll back and forth along the steaming cage bars to avoid being burnt.

"Hang on, I've nearly got it… the things practically melting off. Just hang tight a little longer." She promised, resorting to pulling her sleeve of her sweatshirt over her hand and smacking at the lock.

"Why is it so hot?" Myra asked, knowing she wouldn't have an answer.

Celia was crying now, her skin looking slightly charred.

"Damn it! Just break already!" Myra shouted, slapping the lock as hard as she could.

It finally flung off, melting even faster on the blazing floor. Without hesitation, Myra pulled the door of her sister's cage open and pulled her out, tugging at the ropes that restrained her. She felt fatigued and weak from the intense heat, but managed to free her hands with little difficulty. Wiping her tears away, Celia started yanking the ropes that were wrapped around her feet off. Once she was free, the fourteen year old quickly got to her feet, brushing strands of her honey-colored hair out of her reddened face.

"Alright, now let's find the Pokémon and GET OUT." Myra said.

Celia nodded, wordlessly searching the room. Myra spied a large tarp near the corner of the back of the room. She tugged at the ends until she was able to pry it off.

"What the… motorcycles?"

Celia came to her side, staring at the bikes. "They say 'police' on them. Did the police kidnap us?" She asked.

"No. The police don't wear ugly jumpsuits. I'd say that these are stolen motorcycles." Myra said, staring at them for a moment more before looking for Nikko and V again.

"Maybe they're near the door?" Celia offered.

"But won't those two come out and just knock us out again? You know, if they find out we got out?" Myra asked.

"I'm willing to take the risk for V." Celia declared, carefully stepping over the objects strapped to the wall.

"Celia, stop being stupid! They probably aren't over there-"

"Found them!" Celia smirked, pulling a brown leather strap with two pokeballs strung across it off of a rack near the door.

"Don't let them out," Myra warned. "It'll be too hot for them to stand on this."

Celia nodded and made her way back to Myra, handing her Nikko's poke ball.

"Thanks." Myra muttered, staring at the back of the room.

"Is this… a cargo plane or something? Look, the back, it must open. There's a latch smack in the middle, don't you see it?" She asked, pointing at the back wall.

Celia squinted her eyes. "Oh yeah… but there's no way I'm touching that, it must be so hot by now…"

"I'll do it." Myra sighed, climbing over the motorcycles and pulling a sleeve over her right hand.

"Myra, will we have to jump?"

Myra nodded.

"You know, maybe these people aren't that bad… I think we should just stay put…" Celia said, giving a nervous laugh.

"Nope. We're jumping, end of story." Myra said sternly as she reached the back of the room.

"Okay, I don't think we're in a submarine or on a boat, so I'm going to open this." Myra flicked the hook from its holder, giving the doors a shove.

The opened with little resistance, frigid air blasting into the hot room, knocking Myra back on top of a motorcycle.

"Myra! You alright?" Celia asked, her voice barely audible over the wind.

"Yeah, now get over here," she said, looking down. "It's all water down there, we can send Nikko down first then jump down after him!"

"Okay!" Celia yelled, shaking as she made her way to Myra.

"What! No, Ten they escaped!" A voice yelled.

Myra looked back to see the woman. She now saw the top half of her: she had short, curled blond hair, had a blue and white lightning bolt painted over her right eye, and wore neon yellow gloves.

"Ten-"

"I can't put the plane on autopilot or else Entei's going to take us down!" The man shouted.

"Well, keep it sideways otherwise I'm done for." She muttered, stepping over the clutter to get to Myra and Celia.

"Entei…" Celia gaped, staring at the open door until Myra grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her towards the open door.

"Nikko, catch us when we jumps, okay?" She said to the poke ball before releasing the Lapras out the door.

Nikko let out a determined cry as he flew down towards the body of water. Myra shoved Nikko's poke ball in Celia's hands before positioning her in front of the door.

"M-Myra! Please don't make me jump!"

"We have to-"

"Don't you dare!" The lady screeched, grabbing Myra's hood and pulling her back.

Myra responded by pushing Celia out of the plane.

"MYRA!" Celia screamed as she fell towards the water.

She gritted her teeth, whirling around and back fisting the woman's jaw. The woman recoiled, letting go of Myra and holding her jaw.

"You bitch!" She yelled, glaring at Myra.

Myra ran back to jump too, but they weren't over water anymore.

"What? No…"

The woman grabbed Myra again, grappling with her until the plane jerked back to its original position.

Both fell against the cooling steel floor.

"Damn you, Ten! I told you not to do that!" She shouted.

"Well it got rid of the Entei!" The man yelled back.

"Shut up and help me!"

"Can't, the heat's messed with the controls, and the damn wind's blasting in my face!"

"And you wonder why you're the lowest ranking commander!"

Myra took to opportunity to land another punch. She grinned when she heard the lady's jaw click.

"Fuck that hurts!" She howled, falling back again and holding her jaw.

Myra hurried back towards the open door and stared down again. Still no water, just a forest.

"Oh no you don't, you little shit!" She shouted again, tackling Myra to the ground, the sixteen year old girl's head half out the doors.

"You're the one who kidnapped me and you're calling me the shit?" Myra spat, trying her best to roll back into the aircraft.

"Nine!"

"What?!"

"There's a big storm up ahead and I don't know if this hunk of junk can handle another blow!"

"Well then change courses!"

"I already had to when Entei attacked, and the boss is going to be pissed if we take much longer!"

"Well too fucking bad! Just take the damn detour!"

"No-"

Thunder clapped, interrupting the two. The woman looked back at Myra, her eyes wild with fury.

"Look what you've done!"

Myra's eyes widened when the woman formed a fist. She shoved the lady off of her with all the strength she had, grinning as her captor slammed into Myra's former cage. With her heart pounding, she took one look at the open door, then another at the motorcycles. Myra rushed towards the bikes, standing one up and mounting it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the keys on the handlebars. Myra quickly turned the bike on, squeezing the handles as hard as she could.

The woman's eyes widened. "No!"

She got up and ran at Myra only to be sprayed with exhaust.

Myra drove the bike out of the open doors.

**Gosh… sorry guys, I feel like I didn't do a great job on this chapter, I had to rewrite parts of this several times… so you know, sorry! **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Electros?

**My brain's a little stuck on Myra right now so this chapters probably going to be mostly her POV. Next chapter will be Celia.**

Closer. Closer. Closer. Myra fell even faster to the ground than she would've if she hadn't taken the motorcycle. Her voice was thinning out, but she never stopped screaming. Wind blasted in her face, causing her to squint as she stared down. She was falling towards a forest. The thought of landing on a tree terrified her, but Myra knew there was nothing she could do to stop the fall.

Thunder roared in her ears, rain soaking her sweatshirt and the wind finally stripping her of her baseball cap. Her hands had a death-grip on the motorcycle's handlebars, her eyes wide with terror. She could now gage the trees' exact sizes.

Myra's eyes finally shut, waiting for the pain. An abnormally loud clap of thunder shook her to the core. She suddenly stopped falling down, and flew forwards. The rim of her sweatshirt started strangling her; she opened her eyes to see that she wasn't hovering over the forest anymore, but a flat, plain-like strip of land. The lack of air caused Myra let go of the motorcycle and pull at the collar of her shirt that was strangling her, gasping for air. She looked down again and saw a huge yellow paw just barely in front of her. Her heart beat even faster, her scream intensifying to the point where she couldn't hear herself anymore.

After what seemed like an eternity to Myra, she was on the ground. Well, dangling a few inches above the ground. She hung there, still screaming for a minute before she was dropped, hitting the ground with a light thud. Myra drew in a few ragged breaths before she finally turned to see what had stopped her fall. The beast stood behind her, its magnificent purple mane flowing in the breeze as it towered over her.

"Raikou." She whispered, staring at the electric type.

"Kou…" It chuffed, lowering its head down to Myra's level.

The girl quickly noticed that the beast was missing one of its fangs. Following her gaze, Raikou's tongue swiped over where the fang had once been; it came closer to Myra, sniffing at her hood. Alarmed, Myra rolled away from Raikou.

"What do you want from me?" She breathed.

Raikou gave her an annoyed glance.

"I don't get it, what-"

The legendary interrupted her with a roar and leapt back into the sky, leaving with the storm. Myra stared after it, wondering why it had saved her.

"Oh… my… Arceus! That was soooo cool!" A voice squealed.

Myra's gaze quickly hardened, staggering to her feet. "Who's there?" She asked.

"Great, Sunny, now look what you've done," another voice muttered. "You scared it away, and now she probably thinks we're freaks for watching."

"I said, who's there?" Myra repeated sternly.

Two girls around her age stepped out from a few sparse trees that stood awkwardly in the open space.

"Hi!" One greeted, skipping over to Myra like they knew each other.

Myra gave her a weird look and stepped away from the girl. The other girl sighed when she noticed that her friend had left to Myra.

"Sunny, get back here."

"Okay!" She grinned, skipping back to the girl and tackling her to the ground with a bone-crushing hug.

Myra sweat dropped as she watched the two grapple on the ground. "Um, you two okay?" She asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, just hang on." One grunted, throwing the other off.

She got up, dusting herself off and glaring at the girl. "Sorry about her." She muttered.

Myra sighed, "it's fine… but who exactly are you two?"

She blinked.

"Oh, right sorry. My name's Robin, and the idiot on the ground there is my sister, Sunny." Robin smiled, taking a few paces towards Myra and extending her hand in greeting.

"I'm Myranda, but please just call me Myra." Myra said, shaking hands with Robin.

"Nice to meet you, Myra." Robin replied. "So, was that your Raikou, because it was then I'm awfully sorry about scaring it away-"

"No, he wasn't mine."

"Really? Well to be singled out like that by Raikou, well that's a huge honor around here! Was that your first encounter?"

Myra nodded, "yeah before today I have never met Raikou."

"Well I'm really sorry about interrupting you and spoiling the moment…" She apologized.

Myra waved it off. "Um, now would you mind telling me where exactly I am?"

"We're on route one-"

"So we're still in Unova?" Myra asked hopefully.

Robin cocked her head to the side. "Uno-what? Is that one of those small towns out in the middle of nowhere?"

Her face paled. "What region is this?"

"You feeling okay? There's only one region."

"Wh-what? N-no! There's like fifty of them! Which one is this?"

Robin shook her head slowly, her cherry-red hair blowing in the breeze. "We're in Electros…"

"What? I've never heard of Electros in my life!"

"I think she's crazy." Sunny whispered loudly to Robin from the ground.

"I can hear you, you know!"

"Maybe Professor Maple will know what's going on… Here, um, Myra? Would you be willing to come with us to the City of Thunder to see the Professor? She might be able to help you." Robin asked.

Myra didn't respond, breathing heavily as she tried to make sense of what Robin had just said.

"Myra?"

"Wake up!" Sunny yelled, snapping Myra back into focus.

"S-sure… I guess."

"Okay, good. Now come this way."

XXX

The City of Thunder reminded Myra of Castelia City. It was surrounded by a rough-looking ocean and had tall buildings that were far taller than her home back in Striaton; the city also seemed significantly cleaner than Castelia City too. Although Castelia had just been completely restored a few years ago, the buildings were still gray and the streets were still crowded with grumpy, stressed looking people. This city's buildings… they were beautiful. Each was white and had plenty of windows with solar panels on the roofs. The people also seemed much happier than those of Castelia City.

The word 'thunder' made her shiver now though and reminded of the note. It reminded her of Celia.

"I'll find you, Celia. I promise." She murmured, careful so Sunny and Robin didn't hear.

"The lab's right over here, overlooking the Sea of Thunder." Robin said, snapping Myra out of her thoughts.

Myra nodded.

"Yay! I can't wait to see Professor Maple again, she's the one who helped me catch Precious!" Sunny exclaimed happily, skipping merrily along.

"Who's Precious?"

"My Pokémon of course!"

"What Pokémon do you have?"

"Oh, oh! Robin, can we please show her our Pokémon?" Sunny pleaded.

"Maybe once we get to the lab's front garden, we're sort of in the middle of the street right now." Robin said flatly.

"Right." Myra sighed as she thought about Nikko.

Was he alright? Did he dive straight into a rock or chunk of ice on accident? She gritted her teeth.

_If I had only been faster, then maybe I could be with Celia and Nikko right now instead of these two. _She thought ruefully.

Sunny fell behind Myra, observing the back of her.

"Um… you okay there?"

"Hm? Oh yeah! I'm great!"

Robin chuckled. "You have to tell her flat out or she won't get it."

"But she's our age, how could she not get it? Is something wrong with her?" Myra hissed back.

Robin shook her head, "nothing's wrong with her. She's just… slow for whatever reason; you know, like the village idiot. Anyhow, the lab's-"

"What's that?" Sunny interrupted, poking Myra in the back.

Myra looked back at the blond girl with slight irritation. "What's what?"

"That thingy." Sunny responded, tugging sharply at her hood.

Myra quickly yanked her hood from her grasp and examined it. Her heart stopped. Lodged in one of the holes that Raikou had made from carrying her by the hood was a tooth. She suddenly remembered the Raikou missing its fang.

"So that's why you were messing with my hood… it's probably the only reason you stuck around after saving me," Myra murmured, pulling the fang free and turning to face Robin. "It's nothing, there are just some holes in my hood."

Robin nodded. "Alright. Anyway, like I was saying, the lab's right here."

She shoved Raikou's fang in her sweatshirt's pocket and looked ahead. It was a large white building that looked as though it was made of glass and was longer and shorter than any of the other buildings in the city. Roses of all different colors were planted along the shale path and near-perfect green grass.

"I know it's small, but it looks bigger on the inside." Robin said, catching Myra staring.

"This is way bigger than Unova's lab, and you're telling me this is small?"

Robin gave her a worried look for bringing Unova up again, but forced a nod and started up the path. Myra and Sunny followed.

The red-head opened the big glass doors with ease, passing on the surprisingly light door to Myra, who held it for Sunny before coming in herself. Several wall waterfalls were plastered to the walls of the brightly-lit room. Robin led her and Sunny through a short hallway that was connected to what looked to be a waiting room. Plush-looking red chairs sat in two rows of three against the shell-colored walls accompanied by chocolate-colored coffee tables with magazines stacked on top. A desk sat at the back of the room with a lady behind it.

She greeted the three with a smile, "hello do you have an appointment- oh, it's you guys. You can go into the lab."

Robin flashed her a smile and walked behind the desk as though she did this often. Sunny followed her without hesitation, humming an annoying tune. With a sigh, Myra stepped behind the desk. Robin opened a door behind the desk and held it for Sunny and Myra.

"This place is more like an office building than a Pokémon lab." Myra said, looking back at the waiting room for a moment longer before entering the next room.

"Well, Professor Maple's really popular and people come in all the time to ask her questions, reserve starter Pokémon for their children, and sometimes just to get her autograph." Robin giggled, taking the lead again.

The room was much larger than the waiting room. A large portion of the walls were windows, letting in natural sunshine which reflected off the polished white tile flooring. It was rather empty, but it looked cleaner that way. A few scientists wandered around the room, coming in and out of doors throughout the building while a few others were clustered together in the back as they murmured to each other.

"Professor? Are you here?" She called, taking a few steps forward.

A shorter scientist separated from the group in the back and came towards the group.

"Ah, Robin, Sunny. How's everything going?" An elderly voice asked.

Myra hung back, feeling uncomfortable in the building. It was too professional for her liking, and that was saying something. Myra remembered her grandmother taking her to some of her meetings so she could wait outside the door and learn 'how adults talk'.

Her brown eyes took in the short, elderly woman's appearance. She wore glasses that hid her squinted eyes and had soft-looking wrinkled skin. The woman looked like how she wished her grandmother looked like: soft and inviting. Her silver hair was shoulder length and curled at the tips.

"Oh, and who'd you bring along?"

Myra snapped back into focus, preparing to answer any of the woman's questions. Sunny gave the old lady an excited look and began speaking.

"That's Myra. We found her on route one with Rai-"

"Rye bread! That's right, they found me with a loaf of rye bread." Myra interrupted, shooting Sunny a glare.

The Professor gave her a puzzled look but continued. "So what brings you here, Myra?"

Robin answered this time. "I think she hit her head too hard or something, she says she's from this place called Unovy or something."

"Unova." Myra corrected.

"Oh, that's nice." She smiled.

"But, Unova doesn't even exist! Professor, how can you just condone this-"

"Robin, nobody knows what's past those storms, for all we know there could be something." She replied calmly.

Robin angrily sighed and fell back so Myra was more exposed.

"Oh, ma'am, I was wondering if you knew of a place that was really cold and had a lot of water." Myra asked, recalling the conditions of the place that she last saw Celia.

"Was there a storm?" Maple asked, clearly deep in thought.

"No, but there was a forest nearby."

"Hm… Perhaps you are talking about Lake Faith? It's nearly big enough to be called a sea and it's awfully cold, half the time the lake's frozen."

Her blood ran cold. "Is it frozen now?"

"No, it's summer time now. It should be mostly thawed now. It's frozen for the second half of fall, all of winter, and the first half of spring." She answered.

"Thanks." Myra said.

"Not a problem," she smiled. "Now, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you have any Pokémon?"

"No, why?" Myra responded, not knowing if she was lying to the old professor or not.

"Oh well I have three new trainers coming in today, and all four of my starter Pokémon are really eager to start traveling-"

"Wait, four? There's only supposed to be three." Myra stated, giving her a skeptical look.

Professor Maple chuckled, "well here there's four. Would you like to pick one out now?"

"If you're willing to part with one than yeah, I'd be happy to."

The old lady beamed and motioned for an assistant to come. A tall, young man nodded from the back and left to a different room.

"Now, since you seem a little… out of it, I'll just give you a refresher on what the starting Pokémon for Electros are. There's P-"

"Professor Maple! We're here for our Pokémon!" An obnoxious voice boomed from the opposite side of the room.

All heads turned to the door that connected the lobby to the actual lab. Three boys charged into the room. Two followed the one that had rudely announced their presence. The one furthest back had dark gray hair that was neatly combed back and wore a baggy sweatshirt and baggy pants; the boy closest to the 'leader' had brown hair that nearly came down to his shoulders and wore a track suit. The leader himself was blond haired and wore a plain green T-shirt and baggy jeans.

Robin sighed, "oh. I forgot that _you _were getting your Pokémon today."

The blond smirked and flipped his shorter hair, removing his hands from his pockets.

"Hi, Christmas-Tree, didn't know you would be here."

"Whatever, Jason," she muttered, coming to Myra's side. "Don't listen to a word that bastard says, he's a huge flirt."

Myra nodded warily, not taking her eyes away from the boy. Before anyone else could speak, the assistant came back with a tray in hand. Professor Maple happily took the tray and dismissed him, turning back to the teens.

"Anyway, before I was interrupted," she said, giving the blond and his friends a warning look. "I was telling you what our lab offered for starter Pokémon."

"Wait, Sweatshirt over there doesn't know what the starter Pokémon are? That's sad." He laughed.

Myra glared at him, causing him to laugh harder. The Professor rolled her eyes and continued.

"Well I offer Pikachu," she said, plucking a poke ball from its depression and releasing it onto the ground.

"Chu!" It cried, staring curiously at the people in front of it.

"Tynamo," Maple continued, releasing another Pokémon from its ball.

"Ty!"

"Along with Blitzle," almost on cue, Blitzle released itself, stamping its hoof in excitement.

"And Electrike." She finished, pulling the last Pokémon from the tray and releasing it.

"Trike!" It barked, sitting down.

"Before-"

"I choose Blitzle because he's a badass!" The blond announced, smirking at everyone else as though everyone had wanted Blitzle.

Blitzle happily stepped to his side, happy to be claimed first.

"Everyone-" Maple said, only to be interrupted by the gray-haired boy.

"Pikachu, you're coming with me!" He called, holding his arm out.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, hopping onto his forearm.

"Tynamo, come with me!" The guy in the track suit shouted, pleased when the electric fish floated to his side.

Myra stared at the Electrike. "Looks like you're stuck with me."

"Trike." It nodded, getting up and sitting again at her side.

Professor Maple looked slightly angered that the four had ignored her, but regathered herself and spoke.

"Well, since you all picked your Pokémon, I guess I'll just give you your pokeballs." She sighed, leaving the room.

The blond walked past the other boys towards Myra. "Well, you going to tell me your name and number? 'Cuz if not I'm going to be calling you 'Sweatshirt' forever."

Myra rose an eyebrow. "Why Sweatshirt?"

"You know why." He scoffed.

"Who are you?"

"I asked first."

Both locked gazes.

"I'm really stubborn, don't try with me." He warned.

"Same goes for you." Myra replied.

Electrike and Blitzle did the same, mimicking their trainers.

"Oh my Arceus, he's Jason and she's Myra." Robin shouted from the side of the room.

"Myra? You don't look like a Myra." Jason said.

"Well maybe you don't look like a Jason." She retorted.

Jason ignored her, "I'm going to keep calling you Sweatshirt, okay? Okay."

"Damn you..." Myra grumbled, her fists clenching tightly.

"Want to battle, Sweatshirt?"

"Fine… Blondie!" She spat, mentally slapping herself for not finding a better nickname for him.

"Let's go, Electrike!" Myra shouted, getting behind the electric type.

"Alright, Blitzle, let's show Sweaty here who's boss."

Myra gritted her teeth and felt her face redden in anger at her new nickname's nickname.

"Tackle, Blitzle!" Jason commanded.

Blitzle gave an excited whinny and charged forward.

"Dodge to the side then thunder wave!" Myra countered, watching as Electrike rolled to the side and shot a weak thunder shock at Blitzle, paralyzing the zebra-like Pokémon.

Jason gritted his teeth, "come on, Blitzle! Tackle again!"

Blitzle nodded and started at Electrike only to cringe and stop.

She smirked, "leer then tackle."

"Trike!" He cried, glaring at the Blitzle before ramming into it, knocking it over.

"Tackle!"

"Don't you get that won't work on us?" Myra laughed. "Dodge again, then leer and tackle!"

Electrike easily dodged Blitzle's pathetic tackle and repeated its last attack, knocking Blitzle out.

"Blitz…" It moaned.

Myra smirked and held out her hand. "Pay up."

Jason glared at her and slapped one hundred Poké in her hand. Professor Maple reemerged from the room with an armful of supplies, laughing when she saw Jason paying Myra.

"Already done your first battle?"

Myra nodded as she happily pocketed the cash. She looked down at Electrike. "Good job."

He barked happily at her compliment, his tail wagging. The Professor smiled at her as she handed Myra her pokeballs.

"At least there are ten like in Unova." She muttered, stuffing them in her sweatshirt pocket with Raikou's fang.

The old lady then handed some to Jason and his friends. Myra approached Robin and Sunny, who congratulated her on winning against Jason.

"Nice battle, you seem like you've done it before." Robin said suspiciously.

Deciding against telling them anything else about her, she changed the subject.

"Hey, now that I've got my Pokémon how about you two show me yours."

Before Robin could object, Sunny spoke up. "Oh my gosh, yes!" She squealed, fumbling around her pockets for her poke ball.

"Precious, come out and meet Myra!"

The ball opened to reveal a Rhyhorn.

"Eek! Isn't he sooo cute?" Sunny beamed, getting on her hands and knees and hugging the annoyed looking ground type.

"Horn…" It muttered.

"Yeah… totally." Myra said awkwardly, exchanging weirded out glances with her Electrike.

Robin cleared her throat, gaining Myra's attention. "Here's mine." She said, pulling a poke ball from her jean pockets and releasing a neon green Espeon.

"Speon!" It cried happily, nuzzling Robin's leg.

"That's Neon." Robin smiled, patting Neon's head.

"How'd you get a shiny?" She asked.

Robin shrugged, "I don't know, it just happened. I didn't buy her from a breeder or anything though if that's what you're wondering."

"How'd you get her then? Eevee aren't the easiest Pokémon to find." Myra asked again, her curiosity growing.

"My mother's Flareon had her, so she gave her to me." She explained.

Myra was about to respond when she felt a weak jolt of electricity. She turned around and saw Jason with his Blitzle.

"What?" She asked.

Jason shrugged, "just wanted to say that I'm leaving and that next time we fight, I will win."

"You can think whatever you want."

"Whatever, by Sweatshirt." He said with a wink, leaving the lab.

The two others quickly followed. Myra stood petrified at his wink. Robin came to her side and stared at her frozen face.

"You okay?"

Myra managed a nod, "yeah… fine."

She gave her a weird look. "Whatever you say."

**Before you guys freak out on me about Robin's name, I just want to say that although a 'robin' is a bird in real life, it is also a name. So I don't want to hear you guys complain about it! XD Anyhow, hope you guys like the idea so far and I'm crossing my fingers for some reviews. :) ~Spottedeyes**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: The hunt

A woman in her mid thirties stared angrily at the two people in front of her.

"You let it get away?" She seethed.

"C-Commander Three, we-"

"Let the target get away!" The woman snapped, causing the underling to cower.

She stamped her foot, cursing when the neon yellow heel of the shoe twisted her ankle. "I give you one simple task and you two fail! Miserably! The damn thing's not even that strong!"

The person who had kept quiet the longest spoke. "Ma'am, it transformed, and Glareos City is very big and crowded with bad-tempered people, and they did not appreciate us-"

"I don't care what they think! The boss specifically said that we needed that subject to proceed with our ambition, and he's going to give me the heat for not bringing it to him. We've been tracking that thing for nearly two, no, three years and somehow it always slips away." She said, her voice losing its anger as she went deeper into her thoughts.

She turned away from the two. "What we need is some sort of tracer… something to tell us which one's our target. Then no matter what it looks like we'll be able to pick it out of a crowd." The lady muttered.

"Commander, if I may," the first person asked.

She nodded, her ice-blue eyes stabbing into her. "Urm, if we were to use a different type of Pokémon, then-"

"Stop! That's a terrible idea! I, along with everyone else in our community, must use the industrial types. They're the only ones who are useful. The others… they taint the world. I don't even know why the boss wants one of the impure, they're disgusting." She grimaced, pacing back and forth, her heels making a clicking noise as she walked across the ice.

Suddenly, she stopped and frowned, looking to the left at Lake Faith. "Is it just me, or is it getting… hotter?"

XXX

**Celia's POV**

"MYRA!" Celia screamed as she was pushed from the steaming plane.

The girl struggled in the air, kicking frantically at empty air as frigid wind roughly shoved her. She held V's and Nikko's pokeballs against her chest. Celia didn't look down, not wanting to know how much longer she had before she would slam into the water. She flailed around before deciding that she wanted to get the fall over with.

Celia hugged her knees close to gain momentum. Her head nestled itself against her chest, staring at the two pokeballs. She braced herself for the shock of the cold water. It never came. Realizing she was dangling, Celia uncurled herself, yelping in surprise when her pink sneakers filled with frigid water. As she looked up, whatever was holding her dropped her. She screeched as she was submerged and quickly clawed her way back to the surface, keeping her death-grip on the two pokeballs. Not bothering to wipe the water from her eyes, she looked back up to see what had dropped her.

"Nikko!" Celia shouted angrily, glaring at the Lapras.

Nikko didn't respond as he stared into the sky. "La!" He cried, continuing to look at the sky.

Nikko let out another shrill cry. Her heart beating quickly, Celia started looking for land. She had to get out of the water before she went into shock. At this point Celia all she could focus on was surviving. She groped for Nikko's shell, but the Lapras glared at her and swam a few inches away from her before staring back into the air.

"Praaaaas!" He wailed.

She gave him a betrayed look.

"Nikko, please-" Celia began, her teeth chattering.

The Lapras simply ignored her. Deciding that it was pointless, she looked for land. The fourteen year old saw a sheet of ice a few yards ahead and began to paddle towards it. Her whole body felt stiff as she swam.

As she got closer to the floes, her body seemed to feel warmer; the girl assumed it was because she was so cold, so she ignored it and continued her steadily-paced swim towards safety. A small wave splashed her face, water entering her opened eyes. She stiffened, expecting the burn of salt, but instead received the typical discomfort of getting water in her eyes.

_Fresh water… am I in Sinnoh? This is starting to feel like Lake Acuity. _Celia pondered as she slapped one hand onto the ice.

With a grunt of effort, Celia heaved herself onto the ice, laying on her back. She stared at the sky as she shivered. Her eyes shifted back towards where Nikko was, wondering why he was so fixated on the sky. Celia's eyes widened when she remembered Myra.

Tears welled up in her eyes. _She sacrificed herself for me, her sorry, deadbeat excuse for a sister. And now I don't even know if she's okay. Those people might've killed her, and I'll never know, will I?_

The girl sat up and hugged her cold, wet knees into her chest, her numb fingers still clutching the two pokeballs. They were all she had to defend herself with if those people came back for her. She mentally scoffed at herself. Neither one of those Pokémon could protect her. V doesn't know anything about battling because _she _would always distract him during other peoples' battles at the training school with games on her pokegear, and Nikko didn't seem to care about what happened to her at the moment. Celia felt utterly pathetic. She'd set herself up for failure.

The fourteen year old let her head fall onto her knees as she started to cry more. The serene sound of the water calmed her, yet caused her distress at the same time. Her silent, rattling sobs slowly stopped as a feeling of warmth filled her body. After the crying subsided, Celia rubbed her eyes free of tears and sat up, figuring that the warmth was just her imagination. A low rumble brought her from her funk. Her eyes widened and she looked behind her, barely suppressing a scream.

"E-Entei? Hey… buddy." She chuckled nervously, scooting away from the fire type.

Entei gave her an amused glance as he stood up, his white mane flowing behind him in the non-existent wind. "Tei."

She flinched at his rumble and backed away until she was teetering at the edge of the floe. Celia's blue eyes locked with Entei's. It eased her nerves enough for the girl to inch closer to Entei. A cold breeze swept through, causing her to shiver; it wasn't as bad as it had first been though. Just Entei's presence made Celia feel warm. She didn't have to be petting or hugging him. The Pokémon watched with confidence as Celia gradually made her way back to him. Celia trembled a little when nothing more than a foot of ice stood between her and the legendary fire type. She held her hand out.

Entei gave a light rumble, urging her to come closer. Inhaling deeply, Celia took another two hesitant steps and placed her hand on the yellow crest on his face, yelping and quickly yanking her hand back almost immediately. Entei gave her a blank stare as though nothing had happened. Celia looked down at her hand. It was a deep red and was already blistering. Her gaze drifted back to Entei's crest.

"Arceus your crest is hot." She muttered, wondering if she should dunk her hand in the water or not.

She thought back to watching Myra cook. Whenever her sister would prepare spaghetti she would often make the sauce from scratch, insisting that it was cheaper and healthier than buying the canned stuff. When she prepared the tomatoes she would always heat up the tomatoes in the oven, then would throw them in an ice bath to broil them. Celia looked down at her hand. She didn't want it to look like a broiled tomato.

Celia winced at the pain of the burn. Entei gave an irritated rumble and leapt back, exposing a steaming hole in the ice where he had stood. She carefully moved around the hole, afraid of falling back in.

Entei watched Celia with curiosity from his new perch. Despite having just been burnt by the beast, Celia flashed him a smile as she moved towards him, feeling much less afraid then she first had. She wondered if trusting such a powerful being was wise; but she was lost and afraid and growing desperate for help. Celia had never done anything big like this without Myra. Aside from Trainers' School, she'd never gone anywhere without her. The girl just hoped that Entei would bring her home. She smugly smiled at the thought of telling Myra that she'd met a legendary Pokémon. She'd be so jealous.

Once she got close enough to feel Entei's hot breath, she reached out with her good hand and stroked the fur closer to his chest. Celia was surprised at how soft Entei was considering how rough and scraggly the Pokémon looked. The fur was also hot, but in a pleasant way, sort of like how paper feels after it just comes out of the printer or like how clothing feels after being taken from the dryer. It was just hotter.

Entei stared at the girl, pleased that she worked up the courage to stroke him. He leapt backwards again, revealing another steaming hole in the ice. Celia smiled at Entei, growing to like the Pokémon.

"Can you help me get home again?" She whispered, "or at least back to my sister?"

Entei's gaze hardened, giving her a gruff look before bounding away from the lake.

"Entei!" Celia shouted, "come back!"

She stared after where it had left, wondering what she did wrong. Her attention shifted back towards the lake. Nikko was still there, crying into the sky. She followed his gaze, staring at the cloudless sky. Her heart fell. The aircraft that had brought her and Myra here wasn't there.

"Myra… I'm so sorry. I'm the worst sister ever." She muttered, hoping that Myra would appear from behind and say something like, 'yeah, you sure are.'

Deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to stay out on the ice, Celia called for Nikko. "Nikko! Come here, Myra's not coming, we've gotta go!" She shouted, giving an irritated sigh when Nikko again ignored her.

_If I had a gym badge then he'd listen to me. _Celia thought bitterly, wishing she'd taken Myra's advice and had a Trainers' Card.

"Nikko!" She called again.

Nikko looked in her direction, then back at the sky. "Praa!" He cried, the sound echoing in the empty landscape before he reluctantly began to swim towards Celia.

Celia sighed in relief and returned the Lapras when he got close enough. She stuffed Nikko's poke ball into her jean pocket, but still held V in her hand. She missed having the Eevee out. Celia walked further from the water, tentively testing the ice with each step up until she reached the frozen soil. Smiling at the poke ball, Celia released the normal type. V still had a petrified look on his face, frantically looking around for the people that forced him back into his poke ball.

"They're gone." Celia muttered, wincing as she felt her burnt hand pulsate.

V looked up at Celia, his surprise and fear turning into an elated look, "eve!" he cried, hopping onto her shoulder.

Celia laughed, "good to see you too, now let's go try to find a town-"

"Hey! You!"

She turned towards the voice, her eyes widening in shock. A lady that wore a blue, skin-tight jumpsuit followed by another girl and boy who wore tight yellow jumpsuits approached her. Celia and V exchanged panicked looks and started backing away.

"Hey! Don't you run away!" The lady snapped, her neon yellow heels clicking on the ice as she speed walked towards her.

Celia froze, getting ready to run. She knew that her sneakers would have the advantage over the lady's high heels on the ice if it came down to it. Celia was expecting the lady to have a hostile look on her face, but it seemed to be more mellow when she came up close. She looked up at her face, seeing if it was the same person who took her and Myra. She couldn't tell though, as it had been Myra who'd actually seen their captors. And with the lady's big, neon yellow sunglasses, it was tough to tell who was behind the lenses.

"Yes?" Celia asked, keeping her voice as calm and leveled as she could.

The lady pulled the sunglasses down the bridge of her nose until her piercing green eyes were visible. "Have you seen anything that may have caused a major heat wave?"

She was about to mention Entei's presence, but decided against it. Celia shook her head, "no, sorry."

The lady's eyes glanced at one of the holes in the ice that Entei had made. "Is that so?" She replied skeptically.

Celia nodded.

The lady 'hmphed' and slid the glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

_Can you even see through those things? _Celia wondered, staring at her ridiculous-looking shades.

"Well… heat related things aside," she began, eyeing Celia with interest, "have you ever heard of Team Astro?"

Celia shook her head slowly.

"Now you do. We are a group of people who try to help the people and Pokémon of Electros. We often assist trainers with healing their Pokémon on long routes, giving out food and water, and handing out blankets for those who cannot make it to the Pokecenter in time. We exist simply to help and make life easier." The lady explained, her frown deepening as she went on.

It was Celia's turn to be skeptical. "Well, if you're on Team Astro, who supposedly help travelers, then why are you looking for something that caused a heat wave?"

She snapped her fingers, wearing a smug look. "Simple. The heat may damage the ecosystem of Lake Faith by melting it's ice prematurely. It could also inconvenience travelers who came prepared for the typical frigid weather. If it's too hot, then so are they."

"Okay, fair enough." Celia shrugged, still wary of the lady.

"Great, but you still haven't answered us. Do you accept our offer? We could definitely use some more people." She asked.

"Can I decide later? I'm… I'm uh… I'm supposed to m-meet someone at the Pokécenter soon." Celia lied, not knowing if she could trust them.

The lady did not hide her annoyance well, but still continued to speak in a kind voice. "Of course. Would you like us to point you in the direction of Glareos City?"

Celia nodded, "yes, please."

The lady pointed behind Celia. "Look straight ahead, you see the Crystal Tower?" She asked.

She squinted her eyes, staring ahead. There was a rather thick fog, making it hard for her to see through. "I don't see it." Celia confessed.

"Take a few steps forward." She offered.

Celia did as she was told, staring into the distance, searching for the landmark. Her eyes flashed when she finally saw a brief streak of iridescent further ahead. She turned her head towards the lady and nodded, "thank you. I… I'm going now." Celia then began to walk as quickly as possible towards the tower.

XXX

**"The Lady's" POV**

She watched the girl hurry away. A frown grew on her face, that was the first time she had been rejected after offering a position. In Team Astro's community she was known for her charisma. She wanted it to stay like that.

_Am I good enough to be called 'Commander Three'? _She gritted her teeth, scolding herself at the thought. The lady knew she'd earned this position a million times over. Losing one potential grunt wasn't going to change anything. She shook her head, eyes narrowed. She wasn't going to lose this one.

"It's a shame someone like her isn't on Team Astro," she began, turning to the quieter, more logical grunt behind her. "Sean, follow her. Sway her for me, alright?"

Sean gave her a look of surprise. "Seriously?"

She glared at him, "do I ever joke?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then hurry up and find her. Maybe tracking her will help you find 'it' a little easier. Perhaps after she joins us, I'll have her work under you."

He nodded, shooting the other grunt a smug look before going in the girl's direction.

She sighed as she stared after Sean. He was a good, loyal, hardworking grunt. He'd get the job done.

XXX

**Celia's POV**

Celia trudged through the icy path, hugging her bare arms against her chest. She looked up at V. He'd gone quiet as soon as those Team Asteroid (or whatever they were called) people showed up. V stared at the ground steadily, watching Celia's feet.

"Were those people the ones that you know, took us?" She asked quietly.

V nodded slowly, "vee…"

"Thought so." She muttered.

The walk continued on in silence. V continued to watch Celia's feet, and Celia's hand still throbbed and even bled a little. She couldn't wait to get to the Pokécenter so she could treat it. Her gaze turned to the sky, hoping to see the aircraft that carried her and Myra. She sighed, wondering why she thought the plane would return just to drop Myra off. Celia looked down at her good hand. Nikko was stiff-looking in his poke ball, sometimes shooting her angry looks. She flinched, wondering if he knew that it was partially her fault that Myra was gone. Celia knew Lapras were intelligent Pokémon, but they weren't supposed to be mind-readers…

She looked up ahead, breathing a sigh of relief when the tower that the lady had told her about became more clear-looking.

"Nearly there." Celia murmured to V, who gave her an encouraging smile.

Shivering and still weirded out by the people in jumpsuits, she decided to run. She kept her eyes trained on the frozen earth under her feet, making sure to be careful. V hopped off her shoulder and ran beside her, giving a happy cry. Celia smiled at V, feeling some of her worry leave as she ran.

The tower continued to become clearer, the shape becoming more defined. She still could not see the tip, but she could see that the sides were perfectly smooth and it sparkled, making it tough to miss. She was grateful for that.

As the two continued to run, Celia thought about what the lady had talked about. The word 'Electros' kept coming up. She wondered if it was some small town in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps it was a building? No. It couldn't just be a building. She had mentioned routes. A building wouldn't have that. She sighed, deciding it would be best if she thought about it later. Getting to the Pokécenter was most important. Celia had memorized Myra's X-transceiver number and planned on calling her once she arrived in Snowpoint City or wherever she was. Even if Myra wasn't the one who would pick up the transceiver, at least she might be able to pinpoint where she was.

Celia and V stopped running once they noticed a fine gray stone path under their feet. She looked around. There were plenty of pine trees decorating the freezing area, a hefty layer of snow and frost resting on each branch. In the midst of the mini forest were several wood and stone homes. Celia couldn't help but notice how small each house was. Most of the houses were only one story high, with the tallest buildings merely two stories high. Each home had a stone chimney with smoke billowing into the freezing air.

Celia and V slowly walked through the town, flinching whenever people and their Pokémon would glare at them. A few began muttering quietly to each other, their gazes never leaving Celia and her Eevee. She forced herself to ignore them and pushed further into the town. The more she walked, the more she realized how big the place was. It was more of a city than a town, despite the puny sizes of the buildings and homes. Celia continued down the road beside the sidewalk, not wanting to be hit by any cars. She passed by a group of young boys.

"What's something like that doin' here?"

"Dunno, but she ain't gonna last long here, I'll tell you that much."

"Who even is she?"

"Probably one of those dumb-ass hunters or whatever the hell they call themselves."

"Naw, they only had four people."

"Should we chase 'er?"

"I wouldn't, it'd be risky with them cops all 'round here…"

"Aw come on, dude! I wanna hear 'er scream and watch 'er fall on 'er ass."

Celia had heard enough. She picked up the pace, her heart racing.

"Eevee…" V muttered, the playfulness from the run gone.

Celia picked him off the ground and held him close to her chest with her good hand as she scanned the area for the Pokécenter. She was shaking now not from the cold, but from fear. The girl wanted to ask for directions to the center, but after hearing that last group, she was reluctant.

"Are you lost, miss?" An elderly voice asked.

Celia turned around to see what might have been a lady, she couldn't tell. The person was just a little shorter than Celia and wore ski pants, a thick puff-coat, hand-made mittens, and boots. The person's face wasn't visible either, for her hood was down. A heavily-scarred Glaceon was at her side, eyeing her and V with curiosity.

Celia just stared at her, not knowing how to reply.

The lady put her covered hands on her hips. "What? Never seen a skier my age?"

"N-no, miss-"

She laughed, glancing down at her Glaceon.

"Trust me, I'd much rather be at my home down in Littleburg right now, but my friend here," she said, gesturing to the ice type, "still likes to race me down the ski slopes. We used to stay here at our own little cottage at the ski resort here until I got real bad arthritis. I still come down for her, even though she can barely move anymore thanks to all those nasty scars. You see, she had this terrible accident, well we both had a terrible accident back when we were young-"

"Can you point me to the Pokécenter?" Celia blurted, her face flushing when she realized that she'd interrupted the lady's story.

The young girl expected to get snapped at, but instead the lady just laughed again. "Of course, just go up a block and take a right."

"T-thank you, but I just need to ask you one more thing."

"What would that be?"

"What town is this?"

XXX

She felt renewed when she stepped into the center. Warm air blasted through the air vents, warming her chilled skin. Celia looked around. The Pokécenter was cabin-themed, with a nice fire place and log furniture. Trainers sat at little wood tables sipping hot chocolate while their Pokémon sat beside the chairs, drinking warm water and what looked like berry juice of some kind.

"Hello, welcome to the Pokémon center, how may I help you?" A young feminine voice called.

Celia stared ahead. There was a young woman who was maybe in her mid-twenties with long blue hair that fell to her shoulder blades. She was clad in a nurse's uniform. Celia came closer, relieved that her hand would be treated.

"Um, miss? Can you help me with my hand? I burned it." She asked quietly, raising her bad hand for her to see.

The nurse's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"

Celia felt a few people watching her from the near-by tables. She swallowed and decided to lie.

"Urm, I uh-"

Suddenly, a boy around her age practically fell onto the desk, his eyes wide. Without asking, he grabbed her burnt hand, his hopeful look turning into a deep grin. With his free hand, he brushed some of his sand-colored hair from his face.

"Where were you when you got this?"

"Uh-"

"Come with me!" He shouted, ignoring V's growling and the surprised looks from Celia and the nurse.

He dragged her back to the table. Two girls and another boy were sitting there, giving the boy with the sandy hair an exasperated look.

"Really, Jeff?" A girl asked.

Celia took in her features. She had stick-straight brown hair and brown eyes. The girl held a red blanket tightly around her body.

He practically shoved Celia's hand in the girl's face. "Yes, really! Only one thing out there would be able to cause this severe of a burn!"

The girl turned to Celia. "How'd you get burnt?"

"O-on the s-stove?" Celia lied.

"See? The stove. Stop seeing everything as a sign-"

"Riley! My predictions show that Entei's in the area, so seeing such a burn makes me think that it just has to be the work of Entei!" He insisted.

Celia stiffened at the mention of Entei.

"Besides, who'd be dumb enough to leave their hand on the stove for that long?" He added.

"Why are you bothering Entei?" Celia asked quietly.

His eyes widened, pointing at her. "See? See? She knows! She's met Entei!"

The girl gave in irate sigh as people started to stare. "Jeff, shut up! You're making a scene over nothing! Now let the poor girl get that bandaged!"

The boy grumbled but let her wrist go. Celia rubbed her wrist tentively, staring warily at the boy.

"Who are you people?" She asked.

The girl glared at her companion. "See? Now she's acting like we're freaks-"

"N-no, that's not it, actually. I just want to know your names."

The girl straightened up, clearly surprised. "Okay… Well, I'm Riley."

She pointed at the sandy-haired boy. "That's Jeff."

Riley then looked at the other boy. He had coal-colored hair and bright green eyes. "Call him Cade."

Cade nodded, sending Celia a small wave.

Celia turned her attention to the last one, a girl. She had black hair with bright red streaks dyed into it and blue eyes. She stared intently at Celia, waiting to be introduced.

"And that one's Jade."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Celia, and that's V." She smiled, pointing to the Eevee at her feet.

"Alright, now that we all know each other, I think I need to ask you an important question." Jeff said. "How do you feel about Chasers?"

Celia rose an eyebrow. "A what?"

"A Chaser is a person who tracks and catches legendary Pokémon." Cade informed, taking a sip of his drink.

"Oh."

"Oh? You don't sound very impressed." Jeff said accusingly.

"Well, the chances of meeting a legendary Pokémon are small enough already, but catching one? That's farfetched and I wouldn't count on it ever happening." Celia responded.

Jeff gave a pensive look, leaning back into a previously empty chair. "Yeah, that's true," he admitted, "but my Grandpa always told me that once you meet a legendary Pokémon, you'll never be the same."

Celia shot him a smug look before speaking in a hushed voice. "Well then, I guess I should hang around then, because I did meet Entei out on that lake."

All four of them gave her looks of shock and disbelief, Cade even dropped his mug on the table. Celia felt uncomfortable under their gazes.

"Um… I'll be right back. I need to fix up my hand and make a transceiver call."


End file.
